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Hershey to resume using chocolate in most products; Reese’s grandson may taste sweet victory

April 2, 2026

The grandson of the inventor of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, who has publicly criticized The Hershey Company for tinkering with the classic formula in its spinoff products, appears to have gotten some sweet revenge.

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The candy company has announced that it will return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate recipes” in all its Reese’s and Hershey’s products by 2027.

“If this is true, the people who deserve the credit are the loyal fans who were alarmed by what Hershey was doing,” Brad Reese told NBC News on Wednesday. “But I am seeing a lot of red flags here. I think what Hershey is trying to do here is change with PR narrative.”

Reese, whose demands that Hershey stop skimping on chocolate went viral in February, said he trusts his taste buds more than he trusts the company that produces iconic candies that bear his family name.

“If something like the Valentine’s Day Reese’s Mini Heart still doesn’t taste like real milk chocolate next year, I’ll know they’re lying,” he said.

Hershey CEO Kirk Tanner made the announcement on Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg.

“We’re going to make some small investments to really align the portfolio to what the brand stands for,” Tanner said. “That consistency is important across the brand.”

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have been made with the same ingredients since 1928 — milk chocolate and peanut butter.

Starting next year, Tanner said candies inspired by the originals — like the “mini Reese’s cups and shapes,” as well as the Reese’s Fast Break candy bar — will also be made with real milk chocolate instead of a chocolate compound coating.

In addition, all the classic Hershey’s chocolate bars will also be made with “pure milk and dark chocolate,” he said. And Hershey is “enhancing” the Kit Kat candy bar “for a creamier taste and texture.”

In all, the company said the shift from chocolate compound coatings to the real thing will affect less than 3% of the Reese’s products and a tiny portion of Hershey’s products.

And Hershey is “on track” to remove all artificial colors from its products by the end of next year, the company said.

Tanner, in the Bloomberg interview, also insisted that the switch back to real chocolate was in the works long before Reese went public with his complaints.

“Right when I started with the company, we did a deep dive across our portfolio,” said Tanner, who joined the firm in August 2025.

Reese scoffed at that claim from Tanner.

“You know when this became an issue?” he asked. “Valentine’s Day. This has been going on since Valentine’s Day.”

Reese began taking Hershey to task after discovering that the company had replaced the milk chocolate with a chocolate-flavored coating on some of its Reese’s-inspired products, like the Valentine’s Day Reese’s Mini Hearts.

Infuriated, Reese posted a link to a letter of complaint he wrote to Todd Scott, who does the corporate branding for Hershey, on his LinkedIn page.

Reese invoked the name of his grandfather H.B. Reese, who created the iconic peanut butter cup in 1928 and started a candy company that produced them until 1963. Hershey has been making them ever since.

“My grandfather,” Reese wrote, “built REESE’S on a simple, enduring architecture: Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter.”

But Hershey, he wrote, has replaced the original formula “with compound coatings and Peanut Butter with peanut-butter style cremes across multiple REESE’S products.”

That letter went viral.

Hershey insisted that the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were made the same way they had always been. But the company also conceded that, as it expanded its “Reese’s product line,” it had tinkered with the original recipe.

Right now, the Reese’s Mini Eggs that are a staple at Easter celebrations do not contain milk chocolate, according to their labels.

Neither do Reese’s Pieces, which were introduced in 1978 and became a sensation after they were featured in the 1982 movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”

In response to an NBC News request for a full list of Reese’s and Hershey’s products that will return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate recipes,” the company released a statement that reiterated much of what Tanner said earlier.

“The core recipes for our Hershey’s chocolate bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups have not changed,” it said in part.

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FBI warns some foreign apps could collect Americans’ data — even if you never download them

April 2, 2026

Americans’ personal data could be collected and stored overseas — even if they’ve never downloaded a foreign-developed app themselves — according to a new FBI alert warning about the risks tied to popular mobile platforms.

That means information like a person’s name, email address or phone number could be pulled from someone else’s contact list and potentially stored abroad if a friend or family member grants an app access to their device.

The warning comes after years of scrutiny over TikTok’s ties to China, but the FBI alert suggests the concerns extend beyond any single platform to a broader range of foreign-developed apps.

In a public service announcement, the FBI said many widely used apps developed overseas, particularly those tied to China, may access extensive data once permissions are granted, including address books containing information on both users and non-users.

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The bureau also warned that some apps may continue collecting data in the background after access is granted and, in certain cases, store that information on servers in countries where local laws could allow government access.

“Developer companies can store collected data on users’ private information and address books, such as names, e-mail addresses, user IDs, physical addresses, and phone numbers of their stored contacts,” the FBI said. “The app can persistently collect data and users’ private information throughout the device, not just within the app or while the app is active.”

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The FBI did not name specific companies, but the warning could apply to a range of widely used apps developed by Chinese firms — including video-editing platform CapCut, shopping apps like Temu and SHEIN, and social media platforms such as Lemon8 — several of which rank among the most downloaded apps in the United States.

U.S. officials have long warned that data collected by Chinese-linked platforms could be used to build detailed profiles of Americans, map personal and professional networks, and potentially support intelligence-gathering efforts, particularly if accessed under China’s national security laws.

The FBI added that apps operating in China are subject to the country’s national security laws, which could allow the government to access user data.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in Rome, Italy

The FBI also pointed to possible warning signs that an app may be collecting more data than expected, including unusual battery drain, spikes in data usage, or unauthorized account activity after installation — indicators that could suggest background data collection or other suspicious behavior.

The bureau urged users to limit unnecessary data sharing, download apps only from official app stores, and regularly review permissions granted to mobile platforms. The bureau also warned that apps obtained from third-party sites may carry malware designed to gain unauthorized access to personal data.

Years of scrutiny over TikTok culminated in a 2026 deal that forced its Chinese parent company to relinquish control of U.S. operations to an American-led group in order to address fears over data access and national security.

The FBI’s latest warning suggests those risks may extend beyond a single platform to a broader range of foreign-developed apps used by millions of Americans.

The Chinese embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Justice Jackson sparks online uproar after linking birthright citizenship to stealing a wallet in Japan

April 2, 2026

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson faced viral backlash from conservatives over a comment during oral arguments about birthright citizenship where she floated an analogy comparing the issue to stealing a wallet in Japan.

“I was thinking, you know, I’m a U.S. citizen and visiting Japan and what it means is that, you know, if I steal someone’s wallet in Japan, the Japanese authorities can arrest me and prosecute me,” Jackson said during Wednesday’s oral arguments centered on President Trump’s 2025 executive order advancing a narrower interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause.

“It’s allegiance, meaning, they can control you as a matter of law. I can also rely on them if my wallet is stolen to, you know, under Japanese law, go and prosecute the person who has stolen it. So there’s this relationship based on, even though I’m a temporary traveler, I’m just on vacation in Japan, I’m still locally owing allegiance in that sense. Is that the right way to think about it? And if so, doesn’t that explain why both temporary residents and undocumented people would have that kind of, quote-unquote, allegiance, just by virtue of being in the United States?”

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Conservatives and Republican politicians quickly seized on Jackson’s comment equating territorial jurisdiction with political allegiance, arguing that her analogy fundamentally misreads the 14th Amendment’s birthright-citizenship clause.

“I don’t think KBJ knows what words mean,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X.

“Leave it to Justice Jackson to defend the suicide pact of birthright citizenship for illegals by not understanding the difference between territorial jurisdiction (obeying local laws), and political allegiance,” Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet posted on X. “If territorial jurisdiction means allegiance, every tourist is a US citizen, which is insane. The whole thing is so low IQ and embarrassing for the Court.”

“Oh, good grief, come on now!” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X.

“That’s not what allegiance means,” GOP Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X.

“We only have thirty more years of this, guys,” Outkick founder Clay Travis posted on X.

“Because nothing says ‘allegiance’ quite like going to a new country and immediately breaking its laws,” conservative commentator Greg Price posted on X.

“This is exactly how bad arguments get dressed up to sound intellectual,” conservative commentator A Gene Robinson posted on X.

“‘Subject to the laws’ does NOT equal allegiance. That’s where this entire thing collapses. If you step into a country… you are bound by its laws. That’s jurisdiction. It’s not loyalty. It’s not consent. It’s not allegiance. A criminal is ‘subject to the law’ the moment he commits a crime…That doesn’t make him part of the nation. It makes him accountable to it. That wallet analogy proves the opposite of what it’s trying to argue.”

TRUMP MAKES HISTORIC SCOTUS APPEARANCE FOR BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CASE

“Not sure if she’s aware but of all the countries to mention Japan is probably the least helpful to her cause,” journalist Miranda Devine posted on X. “Babies born in Japan can only become citizens if they have Japanese blood and are born to registered Japanese citizens whose names appear in a special book.”

“No words,” GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden posted on X.

“Peak moron,” conservative radio host Dana Loesch posted on X.

“I cannot believe this woman is on the court, and I cannot believe anyone on the left thinks letting her air these thoughts out loud does them any favors,” Real Clear Investigations senior writer Mark Hemingway posted on X.

Wednesday’s oral arguments centered on Trump’s 2025 executive order advancing a narrower interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause so that children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily would not automatically receive U.S. citizenship.

At issue in the case before the Supreme Court is the language in the amendment that says anyone born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is automatically a citizen. President Donald Trump and conservative legal analysts have argued the provision was a relic of the Civil War and intended for freed slaves rather than a justification of birth tourism and illegal immigration.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

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Trump-backed wife of RNC chair launches bid for Congress as GOP defends slim House majority

April 2, 2026

A week after President Donald Trump urged Sydney Gruters to run for an open GOP-held congressional seat in Florida, the former executive director of the state’s New College Foundation and wife of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters declared her candidacy.

“As a working mother of three, I see firsthand how much pressure rising prices are putting on families across Southwest Florida,” Sydney Gruters said as she launched her campaign on Thursday. “From groceries and gas to housing and insurance, too many families, seniors and veterans are being stretched thin. I’m running for Congress to protect our conservative values and fight for the people of this district and give them a strong voice in Washington.”

With Trump’s support, Gruters is considered the clear frontrunner to succeed retiring longtime GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, her former boss, in Florida’s right-leaning 16th Congressional District, which stretches from Tampa’s eastern suburbs south to Bradenton. Republicans currently control the House 218-214 and will be defending their fragile majority in this year’s midterm elections.

Trump, in a social media post on March 24, emphasized that Gruters would “fight tirelessly.”

RNC CHAIR BETS ON ‘SECRET WEAPON’ TO DEFY MIDTERM HISTORY, PROTECT GOP MAJORITIES

“Should she decide to enter this Race, Sydney Gruters has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, SYDNEY, RUN!” the president declared.

While her husband, a Florida state senator and top Trump supporter in the Sunshine State, is well known nationally as he steers the RNC, the 44-year-old Sydney Gruters is well known in her district and very familiar with Congress.

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Gruters served as Buchanan’s operation director for a decade (2007-2017) and later as district director to GOP Rep. Greg Steube (2019-2023) in the neighboring 17th Congressional District.

Congressman Vern Buchanan leans over a desk

In-between her two congressional stints, she served in Trump’s first administration as state director for Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Department of Agriculture.

Prior to launching her congressional campaign, Gruters finished up her tenure as vice president of advancement and executive director of the New College Foundation.

Gruters took her position at the smaller liberal arts state college in Sarasota soon after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis installed a conservative board of trustees at the school. The one-time progressive-minded college subsequently created a classical education curriculum, which emphasizes liberal arts and Western teachings. Last autumn, the college was among the first to sign on to Trump’s education compact, which offers schools federal funding for backing his education priorities.

Joe Gruters is the new chair of the Republican National Committee

As she launches her congressional bid, Gruters is also backed by Maggie’s List, a political group that works to elect conservative women to Congress.

Three other Republicans, as well as three Democrats, are also running to succeed Buchanan.

Joe Gruters, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said he’s “incredibly proud of Sydney as she launches her campaign, and it’s an honor to see her earn President Trump’s support. As always, the RNC remains neutral in Republican primaries, so any support I offer will be purely in my personal capacity.”

Trump won 57% of the vote in the district in his 2024 presidential election victory. And Buchanan grabbed nearly 60% of the vote as he won re-election. But the seat may be refigured ahead of this year’s midterms, as the GOP-dominated Florida legislature meets in a special session later this month to deal with congressional redistricting in the red-leaning state.

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Trump administration accused of violating court order by sharing Medicaid data with ICE

April 2, 2026

More than a dozen Democratic-led states are accusing the Trump administration of violating a federal court order by sharing Medicaid data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking a judge to enforce the ruling.

The states’ complaint asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to enforce its existing injunction blocking HHS from sharing Medicaid data with ICE.

“The Trump Administration appears to be defying a direct court order blocking it from sharing the personal, sensitive data of individuals including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It’s invasive — and deeply troubling,” said California Attorney General Bonta, who led the coalition of 22 states. “When Californians signed up for Medi-Cal, they did so with the understanding that their data would not be used for purposes unrelated to administering this program. I urge the court to enforce its earlier order and make clear that these guardrails exist for anyone who is lawfully residing in the United States.”

The complaint stems from a lawsuit spearheaded by California in July 2025 against the Trump administration. The lawsuit accused Health and Human Services of violating federal law through its “mass transfer of sensitive Medicaid data” of both lawful permanent and temporary residents. The lawsuit also argued that the sharing of the personal information will likely create a “chilling effect on individuals’ willingness to enroll in Medicaid programs” for which they are legally eligible.

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A federal judge ruled last December that the Trump administration is not allowed to collect the personal information of lawful permanent residents or citizens, but that it can continue to collect basic information from individuals such as addresses, birthdates and immigration status for residents with temporary status. However, the scope of data that can be collected is limited and cannot include sensitive health information.

The attorneys general accuse Health and Human Services of sharing “a large and complex” set of data on Medicaid recipients with ICE, which is in violation of a federal court ruling allowing the exchange of limited personal information but excluding the information of legal permanent residents. The complaint also accuses the Trump administration of failing to share its criteria for determining if a resident is being “lawfully present.”

CATO Institute Senior Legal Fellow Dan Greenberg told Fox News Digital there is “a strong possibility” that HHS and ICE violated the district court’s order.

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Federal agents walk on a city street in Minneapolis.

“The reason this is a strong possibility is that DHHS communications apparently indicate that it shared a ‘large and complex’ dataset of Medicaid recipients with ICE,” Greenberg said. “That phrase suggests that the dataset that was shared with ICE may have included information that is outside the scope of the court order. That is a question of fact: that is why the states are now asking the court to compel the federal government to explain just what was shared and how it is now being used.”

Greenberg also pointed out that the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System database does not “appear to have any simple or direct way to identify/single out immigrants who are undocumented,” making “information-sharing that complies with that court order difficult or impossible.”

“The TMSIS identifies people who are only eligible for emergency Medicaid services, but the problem is that this class of people includes both undocumented and lawfully present immigrants,” Greenberg said. “In short, it is as if the court order said that only some of the information in one particular file should be disclosed, but there is reason to believe that DHHS decided that — because they can’t figure out how to separate out this particular type of information – they may have handed over the whole filing cabinet.”

In addition to California, attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governor of Kentucky signed on to the complaint.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Health and Human Services for comment.

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Big 12 commissioner: ‘Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12’

April 2, 2026

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark snapped back at Cody Campbell, saying the chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents “does not run the Big 12” after Campbell complained publicly about the conference and its television partners possibly moving this year’s Texas Tech football game against Houston to a Friday night.

Texas Tech was one of only three Big 12 teams that didn’t play a regular-season game on a Friday night last year. Campbell says that’s going to happen this coming season, and he doesn’t like it.

Campbell posted this week on social media the Big 12 and Fox Sports are looking to move the Texas Tech home game against Houston from Sept. 19, the Saturday on which it’s currently slotted, to Sept. 18. He began his objection by writing that “Friday Night Lights are sacred in the Great State of Texas!”

He also took Yormark to task.

“I heard about it through the (Tech football) staff up here and our administration that it was being discussed,” Campbell told the Avalanche-Journal on Tuesday, March 31. “They (TV partners) have the draft or whatever, and the conference doesn’t want to really acknowledge it, but they do have an ability to influence those decisions. They just chose not to because they were chasing ratings — which I do understand on one hand, but on the other hand, high school football is important in the state of Texas.

“We’ve got a road game the week before. It’s not an ideal situation for us, and … I think our conference should protect us more than they did.”

Campbell is a former Texas Tech offensive lineman, one of six founding members of The Matador Club, a collective that’s supported Tech athletics, and an increasingly prominent voice nationally on college-sports issues.

The Big 12 released the 2026 schedule on Jan. 21 with the usual caveats that TV partners ESPN, Fox Sports and TNT Sports would make their selections for the first three weeks of the season at a later date and that some Saturday games could be moved to Friday or other special dates.

Though there’s been no announcement from the Big 12, Campbell said he thinks the Tech-Houston game moving to Friday is a fait accompli.

“I think it’s done,” he said, “unless they come back and they figure something else out. I think Yormark could have gone to bat for us and didn’t, because, again, he wanted the ratings. I think Fox is not concerned about any individual team. I think, again, they also want ratings, so they picked the game that’s going to give them the most viewership for that weekend.”

Last season, Tech went 12-2, won the Big 12 championship, and was a College Football Playoff quarterfinalist. Houston capped a 10-3 season by beating LSU in the Texas Bowl.

Brett Yormark says Big 12 presidents, ADs approved 12 non-Saturday games a year

Asked on Wednesday, April 1, for a response to Campbell’s comments on social media and to the Avalanche-Journal, the Big 12 issued a statement from Yormark to the A-J.

“Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12,” Yormark said. “Our Board and our ADs approved playing 12 games a year off of Saturdays in an effort to raise the profile, narrative, and viewership of Big 12 Football. Texas Tech hosting a primetime game on Friday night delivers that.

“Friday night Big 12 football games outperformed the Conference’s average rating by 64% in 2025. All of our schools are treated equally during the TV scheduling process and this game fits within our scheduling parameters. I am thankful that our TV partners provide us with these opportunities.”

There were seven FBS regular-season games, including two involving Big 12 teams, played on Friday nights in Texas last season: Auburn-Baylor and UNLV-Sam Houston State on Aug. 29, Colorado-Houston on Sept. 12, South Florida-North Texas on Oct. 10, Memphis-Rice on Oct. 31 and Texas A&M-Texas and Temple-North Texas on Nov. 28.

Texas Tech football would face short week after West Coast trip

Texas Tech plays Oregon State on Sept. 12 in Corvallis, Oregon, so the prospect of Tech-Houston six days later puts the Red Raiders on a short week coming out of a trip to the Pacific time zone.

“We’ll deal with it,” Campbell said. “We’ll play on Monday night if we have to, but I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the kids or our program or even the Big 12 for us to be playing that [Houston] game that night.

“We’ll get back [from Corvallis, Oregon] at 4 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, you know? I mean, they’ll probably have to prepare [for Houston] the week before.”

Kirby Hocutt tells local ADs of potential conflict with Houston at Texas Tech football game

Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt has advised ADs from Lubbock ISD, Lubbock-Cooper, and Frenship schools that the Red Raiders might play on Friday, Sept. 18, a Tech athletics spokesman said, in case they want to adjust their own games in response.

Yormark’s desire to have a supply of non-Saturday Big 12 games has put him at odds with high school coaches since the beginning of his tenure. He expressed it at the 2023 Big 12 media days when he was starting his second year on the job.

“It’s very hot during the summer months, especially in the (early) fall,” Yormark said in July 2023. “So playing on a Friday night versus Saturday morning does have its benefits. And when you think about the tonnage of college football on air on a Saturday provides a lot of opportunity for us to kind of build our profile on a Friday night.”

At the Texas High School Coaches Association annual convention in July 2024, THSCA executive director Joe Martin said the THSCA objected to Friday night college games, specifically mentioning a Houston-TCU game that fall.

Dave Campbell’s Texas Football quoted Martin as saying, “We are asking all conference commissioners to refrain from scheduling Friday night games during the 11-week Texas high school football regular season. We feel Friday nights should be about the communities involved with Texas high school football.”

The Big 12 conference schedule starts Sept. 12 with Arizona at Brigham Young. Houston-Texas Tech and Arizona State-Kansas are the two Big 12 openers on Sept. 19. Attractive nonconference games that day include two Big 12 opponents playing teams that finished 11-3 last year — West Virginia-Virginia and Kansas State-Tulane — and a Power Four Conference matchup, Colorado-Northwestern.

Last year, Texas Tech and Iowa State were the only two Big 12 teams that played all their regular-season games on Saturdays.

Of the other Big 12 schools, Houston played three Friday games, and Kansas, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State had two apiece. Four teams played one Thursday game apiece: Central Florida, Oklahoma State, Houston and Cincinnati. TCU opened on a Monday night at North Carolina.

Regarding his social-media post, Campbell said, “I meant what I said. I told Brett Yormark I meant what I said. I’m not going to back down from it. I don’t think, especially in the state of Texas, two Texas teams should be playing on Friday night. It’s different than it is in other parts of the country.”

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Pam Bondi already fired as attorney general, Cabinet official teed up as replacement: sources

April 2, 2026

FIRST ON FOX — President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke with Fox News Digital.

Trump confirmed the ouster in a Truth Social post Thursday, underscoring that he views her as “a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend” as she moves into an undisclosed role in the private sector.

“Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900,” he continued. “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as interim attorney general, Fox News reported Thursday.

HOUSE OVERSIGHT SUBPOENAS AG BONDI IN PROBE OF EPSTEIN CASE ‘MISMANAGEMENT’

“Our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General,” Trump added in his post. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Bondi met with Trump in the Oval Office Wednesday night ahead of his speech to the nation on the war in Iran, according to two sources familiar with the meeting who spoke to Fox News Digital ahead of Trump’s announcement.

Bondi departed for Florida Thursday morning, Fox News reported, where she is filming an NFL-affiliated child safety initiative.

The president is reportedly considering replacing Bondi with Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldin, according to the sources familiar with the matter. Trump held a meeting with Zeldin at the White House Tuesday to discuss wildfire and prevention, where talks of the transition also unfolded, according to an individual familiar with the meeting.

That source relayed to Fox News Digital that Zeldin would be a plausible replacement, adding that Trump could change his mind at any point.

The ouster follows a recent New York Times report detailing that Trump was preparing to replace Bondi with Zeldin as the president had become increasingly dissatisfied with her performance in the role.

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When initially asked about the meetings and Bondi’s ouster Wednesday evening, the White House directed Fox News Digital to the same comment defending Bondi that the office provided to the Times.

“Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” Trump’s comment states.

The ouster came the same day Bondi accompanied Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday morning for oral arguments on the high-stakes birthright citizenship case.

Sources confirming to multiple outlets Zeldin’s potential ascension to her former role comes as he prepares for an event with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thursday afternoon to make an announcement on addressing rising instances of microplastics in drinking water.

Bondi’s entire tenure at the DOJ has been riddled with public scrutiny, especially as it relates to her promise to release the entirety of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

She told Fox News at the onset of taking her role at the helm of the Justice Department in February that the files were “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

The trickle of information from her agency over the ensuing year and the lack of new information left Americans frustrated that she was reneging on the promise of releasing the the files.

Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify that Bondi was out as AG before Trump’s address Wednesday night, and left Washington, D.C., the following morning.

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Tarik Skubal puts on show for his hometown fans, but Tigers lose

April 2, 2026

PHOENIX — Ok, maybe the entire town of Kingman, Arizona, wasn’t on hand Wednesday afternoon to see their hometown hero, but that lower section down right field, toward the concourse at Chase Field, certainly made their presence known loud and clear.

They watched their famous Kingman native mow down the Arizona Diamondbacks, but only this time, the two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal didn’t get his Detroit Tigers teammates to cooperate.

Skubal, despite giving up just one run and six hits in seven dominant innings, lost 1-0 to the Diamondbacks. It was the first time he lost a 1-0 game since May 31 last season against the Kansas City Royals when he also gave up one run in seven innings.

Skubal gave up a home run to Corbin Carroll on his ninth pitch of the game, and allowed only one runner to reach second base after the third inning on shortstop Javier Baez’s error. He threw 60 of his 87 pitches for strikes, but took no solace in his latest dominant performance, with the Tigers having scored in just four of their last 49 innings.

“Obviously, it doesn’t really matter,’’ said Skubal, 1-1 with a 0.69 ERA, vying to join Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson to win three consecutive Cy Young awards. “We lost. The goal of every game that I’m pitching, I want to win. It doesn’t really matter how it happens.

“Individually, fine, but it’s a team game. And we need to win. So it doesn’t really matter how I felt because it comes in a loss.’’

Skubal struck out just three batters, but he induced nine ground ball outs, including three double-play balls. His only real mistake was throwing a 97-mph fastball at the top of the strike zone on an 0-and-2 pitch to Carroll in the first inning, which he hit 406 feet over the center-field fence. He gave up only one 0-2 pitch for a home run all last season.

Then again, you ask Skubal, and he didn’t consider it a mistake at all.

The pitch was exactly right where he wanted. He gave all of the credit to Carroll, who became just the sixth left-handed hitter to ever homer off Skubal, and just the third since he began his Cy Young run in 2024.

“Great pitch, great pitch,’’ Skubal said. “I thought I executed it great. If you told me an 0-2 heater, that I’m going to execute it there 10 more times, I would do it 10 more times. It’s just one of those things. He’s a really good hitter, too, and he put a good swing on it.

“So, sometimes you got to tip your cap, and that was one of those times. That’s obviously a difference-maker in the game, but I don’t take that pitch back by any means.’’

Carroll, who’s hitting .333 with two homers, a double and triple despite breaking his hamate bone this spring, certainly appreciated the compliment. It’s not as if he was about to ask Skubal to autograph the baseball for him, but to join Freddie Freeman and Edouard Julien as the only left-handed batters to homer off Skubal since 2024 season, he realizes it’s pretty select company.

“Obviously, he’s one of the best in the game, if not the best,’’ Carroll said. “It’s really fun to go to battle against guys like that.’’

Carroll’s homer might have dampened the enthusiasm from the folks who drove three hours down from Kingman, with Skubal leaving 50 tickets, but it hardly ruined the performance. Skubal, making only his second start at Chase Field, showed the kids at home that you can be born with a club foot, go completely ignored by the three major universities in the state, and still work to become the greatest pitcher in baseball.

“No doubt, I like to enjoy the environment and to show that I care about the people that support me,’’ Skubal said. “So, it’s really cool whenever I get to back here and make a start. … I get to perform in front of my family, and understanding that I’m not around a ton, so I want to put on a good performance in front of them.’’

Skubal, who was able to sleep in his own bed in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the Tiger’s four-day stay, enjoyed seeing friends and family. He teased them that since the Tigers have only one more trip within driving distance of Kingman — a three-game series July 17-19 against the Los Angeles Angels — that “now they’re all going to have to get their ass on a plane to Detroit if they want to see me.’’

Skubal laughed. Who knows, considering the Los Angeles Dodgers can sign whoever they want with their unlimited resources, they could be seeing a lot of him in the future since he will be the most prized free agent on the market this winter. He’s expected to sign the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history, exceeding $400 million.

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen, who outdueled Skubal by giving up just four hits in six shutout innings, knows he’ll be in the same free-agent marketplace, and heartily laughed when it was suggested he’d gladly take $1 million less than whatever Skubal receives.

“I’m all in,’’ he said.

Skubal isn’t going to sit around and worry about his future now. He knows he’ll be handsomely paid, setting up his family for generations. For now, he’s got a World Series championship to win.

And a small town of 35,000 in northern Arizona to impress, just like he did when he stopped in Kingman before heading off to Lakeland, Florida, for spring training.

“I go talk to the elementary schools and just go get in front of them,” Skubal says. “I think it’s important to give back to kids. A lot of those kids kind of idolize me, so it’s good to get in front of them and just talk to them. Let them know I’m a human and that I played basketball in the same gym that they did. I think that stuff’s pretty cool. …

“Being in my position is a privilege, and it’s something that I don’t take lightly. Getting in front of kids in my hometown, kids in Detroit, or anywhere, and just kind of [letting] them understand that whatever your dream is as a kid, whatever your passion is, just go do it and pursue it. Enjoy it. Life’s too short not to.

“I think that that’s the message I try to portray to kids.”

And, yes, as he reminded them one last time Wednesday, he was one of them not too long ago, driving down to catch Diamondbacks games during the season, or spring training games in March, dreaming that one day he’d be standing on the same mound.

“I got some special memories of this place,’’ he said. “I remember coming to games here. The tickets I would get would be three seats up from the roof. I remember being terrified up there, just how high up it was.’’

Now, the only ones being terrified are the opposing lineups he faces, with one team being the fortunate ones to sign him.

“Someone,’’ Carroll said, “is going to be paying that guy a lot of money after this year.’’

The Diamondbacks can only hope it’s not to their hated rivals to the West.

They saw enough of him Wednesday to last a season.

Follow Bob Nightengale on X @Bnightengale.

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Business

Stocks have their worst quarter since 2022, raising doubts about Trump’s economic playbook

April 2, 2026

Stocks surged Tuesday, with the S&P 500 closing up 2.9% while the Nasdaq rose 3.8% and the Dow gained 1,125 points.

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But this very good day capped off what was a very bad month for U.S. equities. The S&P 500 fell 5.09% in March, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 4.75%.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow, Iranian controlled waterway through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil typically transits every day, weighed heavily on markets throughout the month.

Tuesday was also the end of the first quarter of the year, one when the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their worst annual starts since 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine rocked markets.

For the first quarter, the S&P 500 dropped 4.6% and the Nasdaq declined 7.1%.

Oil prices, meanwhile, soared over the past month, driving up the cost of fuel and triggering a domino effect of higher prices around the globe.

Brent, the international oil benchmark, posted its largest monthly percentage increase ever, after having risen more than 60%. The price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil also soared in March, climbing more than 50% in its biggest one-month gain since 2020.

For millions of drivers in the U.S., the increases manifest as higher prices for gas. And here, too, the past month was remarkable. The average price of unleaded gasoline hit $4 per gallon Tuesday, up more than 34% in just four weeks.

But it’s not just gas prices that hit U.S. households this month.

More than half of all adults in the U.S. own stocks, often via their retirement accounts and the broader funds those managed accounts invest in. Most of the time, market moves up and down don’t swing the value of those kinds of diversified retirement accounts.

But March was a different story.

“Stocks have been following the lead of oil prices at an unprecedented rate over the last several weeks, and if the U.S. just walked away from the Middle East with the Strait still blockaded, energy markets would likely remain incredibly supply-constrained, keeping prices high,” analysts at Bespoke Investment Group wrote Tuesday.

“The longer prices are high and supplies are limited, the worse it’s going to be for the global economy and ultimately stock prices,” they added.

The wild market swings of the second Trump administration are in sharp contrast to how Donald Trump said the markets would react if he were elected to a second term in 2024.

“There are many people that are saying that the only reason the Stock Market is high is because I am leading in all of the Polls, and if I don’t win, we will have a CRASH of similar proportions to 1929,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in May 2024 as he campaigned for the presidency.

Shortly after he was re-elected in 2024, Trump was asked whether he believed market indexes were good barometers of his performance in office. “To me … all of it together, it’s very important,” he told CNBC.

But during the first 14 months of his second term, U.S. markets have faced some of the sharpest drawdowns in history.

In February and March of last year, Trump’s sweeping tariff policies roiled the market, pushing the S&P 500 into its seventh-fastest correction of all time. A correction is when a stock or an index declines 10% from its most recent record high.

Just over a year later, the S&P 500 isn’t far from doing it again. As of Tuesday’s closing bell, the index had tumbled 6.7% from its most recent high in January.

As oil prices rise, stocks typically fall given that higher oil prices typically lead to higher prices across a number of industry sectors over the long run.

Already, inflation is on the rise around the world. On Tuesday morning, eurozone inflation came in at 2.5%, from 1.9% the month before, according to the European Central Bank.

On Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 in Japan recorded its worst month since 2008. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index posted its worst month since 2022.

Two near-corrections in just over a year illustrates just how volatile the administration’s policies have been for markets.

Still, since Trump took office for a second time, the S&P 500 is up 8%, although last year global stocks far outpaced the broad U.S. index.

In 2025, global stocks as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA index rose nearly 30%, while U.S. stocks rose just 16%. Global stocks haven’t beaten American equities by that much during the first year of a presidential term since 1993, according to data from Bloomberg.

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly touted the Dow’s recent 50,000 milestone as a sign that the markets are doing well in his presidency.

“You know, it’s sort of crazy, I hit 50,000 on the Dow,” Trump said at an investment conference in Florida on Friday. “People said that wouldn’t be possible within four years.”

“And then we hit 7,000 on the S&P,” Trump added. “People said that’s even harder than hitting 50,000 on the Dow.”

As of Tuesday, the Dow had plunged more than 3,600 points since it hit 50,000, a drop of nearly 7.5%.

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Sports

Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen welcome first child together

April 2, 2026

Hailee Steinfeld is officially a mom!

The Oscar-nominated “Sinners” star, 29, has welcomed her first child with husband Josh Allen.

Steinfeld revealed the news in an April 2 edition of her newsletter “Beau Society.” In a newsletter titled “Special delivery,” she included a graphic of a stork and shared, “Our baby girl has arrived!!”

“We’re feeling incredibly grateful and blessed and savouring these early moments. Thank you so much for the love and well wishes,” read a message signed by both Steinfeld and Allen.

The news comes after Steinfeld announced she was expecting her first baby with Allen in December. The couple’s pregnancy reveal came in the form of a sweet video that showed Allen kissing Steinfeld’s baby bump. The actress later debuted her baby bump on the red carpet of the Golden Globes in January.

Steinfeld has been romantically linked to the Buffalo Bills quarterback since 2023. They made their relationship Instagram official in July 2024, confirmed their engagement in November 2024, and tied the knot in May 2025.

The “Hawkeye” actress recently wrote in a March 27 newsletter that she had been “folding baby clothes,” and she reflected on celebrating her mother’s birthday, writing that her mom “set a standard that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to match, but I’m sure going to try.”

Steinfeld also celebrated a big night for her movie “Sinners” at the 2026 Oscars. She did not attend the ceremony, where her costar Michael B. Jordan won best actor.

“Couldn’t write a reflection on this month without mentioning ‘Sinners,’ specifically the love I felt watching my cast on Oscars night,” she wrote on March 27. “Despite being at home, I was overwhelmed with pride and joy for this cast.”

In his best actor acceptance speech, Jordan shouted out Steinfeld, saying, “She’s getting ready to have a baby right now. Thank you so much for being the other half of Stack.”

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